To W. T. Thiselton-Dyer 9 May [1878]1
Basset, Southampton.
May 9th.
(we return home on the 13th.)
My dear Dyer
I have given you & Hooker a rather long holiday, but now I want some aid badly.— I have written on separate slip of paper what I want.—2 I daresay I cd get the Cissus & Bignonia at Veitchs’, but Hooker told me to apply first to Kew.3 When at Kew a few months ago, Mr Lynch gave me fruits of 2 Cacteæ: we sowed the seed fresh & dried under various temperatures, but not one germinated. Of all the seeds of Cycas so kindly sent me only two cracked & these died.4 Why we failed I cannot imagine.
I have extreme wish to observe seedlings of Cacteæ & Cycas; if you have any seeds of latter, would you get Mr Lynch to raise a few for me & of some Cacteæ, & as soon as the earth cracks over the seeds or a vestige of a cotyledon appears, to despatch the pots to me.
I shall die a miserable, disgraced man if I do not observe a seedling Cactus. As for Cycas I have hardly any hope.—
We have been doing some really pretty work on radicles; but it is too long a story for you to read or for me to write. What trifles determine the success of experiments; Sachs missed a pretty little discovery solely by keeping his germinating beans too warm.— What magnificent work he has done on radicles.—5
I hope Mrs Dyer is going on well.—6
I saw a paragraph in Times from you about plants not turning to the Light for their profit, which has astounded me, & some time I must talk with you about this.7
Yours very sincerely | Ch. Darwin
P.S. I cannot resist telling you a little about the radicles. The apex is sensitive, & instead of turning to touching object like a tendril, it turns from it. The apex is so sensitive that if little squares (about th of inch) of card & thin paper of exactly same size are fixed to opposite sides of apex, the radicle, (growing freely downward in damp air) bends always from the card side.— The apex of a radicle growing in earth tries to circumnutate, & thus prefers the earth on all sides; if one side is harder than the other the radicle will bend from this side, & thus it will discover with unerring precision the lines of least resistance in the ground.—8
Do not trouble yourself by answering this scrawl, but aid me if you can about the plants.— | C.D.
Footnotes
Bibliography
Allan, Mea. 1967. The Hookers of Kew, 1785–1911. London: Michael Joseph.
Correspondence: The correspondence of Charles Darwin. Edited by Frederick Burkhardt et al. 29 vols to date. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 1985–.
Movement in plants: The power of movement in plants. By Charles Darwin. Assisted by Francis Darwin. London: John Murray. 1880.
Sachs, Julius. 1873–4. Ueber das Wachsthum der Haupt- und Nebenwurzeln. Arbeiten des Botanischen Instituts in Würzburg 1 (1871–4): 385–474, 584–634.
Summary
CD wants some plants; asks Lynch to raise some Cactaceae for him. Observations on sensitivity and movements of radicle.
Letter details
- Letter no.
- DCP-LETT-11499
- From
- Charles Robert Darwin
- To
- William Turner Thiselton-Dyer
- Sent from
- Bassett
- Source of text
- Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (Thiselton-Dyer, W. T., Letters from Charles Darwin 1873–81: 119–21)
- Physical description
- ALS 6pp
Please cite as
Darwin Correspondence Project, “Letter no. 11499,” accessed on 26 September 2022, https://www.darwinproject.ac.uk/letter/?docId=letters/DCP-LETT-11499.xml